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Londolozi Live

Membership overview

We invite you to sign up for a Londolozi Live account and join our growing digital family united by our respect for nature and love of the wild. Membership is free and grants access to the Londolozi community, numerous innovative services and benefits across our digital ecosystem:

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Tell the community something about yourself and tweak your Londolozi profile. More of a secretive animal? Keep your profile private.

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Earn badges for your profile as you interact with Londolozi and the community as you comment, share and explore our online ecosystem. All your activity with Londolozi is now connected.

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Discuss stories

Chat with other Londolozi Live Explorers and with your favourite Contributors from the Londolozi team about their photos and stories from the wild.

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Home of leopards

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The Pantanal Series: Walking with a Giant Anteater

In my life I have been fortunate enough to have travelled rather extensively and to have seen some pretty incredible things. I am not a ‘city traveller’, as in I do not travel to places to see touristy sites, ancient buildings and museums. I am a ‘nature traveller’. I travel to wild places and destinations in search of unusual, rare, endemic or beautiful aspects of nature…the flora and fauna. To date my most exceptional thing to have done whilst traveling was to ‘Walk with a Giant Anteater’. Quite simply it is a life changing experience! If you have any inclination towards ‘nature traveling’ then I would recommend putting this in your bucket list!

A Giant Anteater quietly crosses a dirt track near to the main camp of Caiman. Have a look a the very unusual style of walking. In human terms – it’s almost as if he walks on the back of his front hands

The elongated claws force the anteater to walk on its knuckles, similar to the platypus and African apes, specifically gorillas and chimpanzees.

It’s wonderful to watch, and listen to them when they find a ant nest. You can hear them sucking up the ants, almost appearing as if they sniff them up the long snout.

It feeds primarily on ants and termites, using its foreclaws to dig them up and its long, sticky tongue to collect them. Though giant anteaters live in overlapping home ranges, they are mostly solitary other than when mating, during mother-offspring relationships and aggressive interactions between males. Mother anteaters carry their offspring on their backs until weaning them.

Being able to walk close by to the anteaters for a lengthy period of time allows one the opportunity of taking the most incredible and intimate photographs of this most unusual of animals.

The giant anteater, also known as the ant bear, is a large insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteater and is classified with the sloths in the order Pilosa

In Africa I find it is the giraffe which I strikes people as ‘out of this world’. I think that the Giant Anteater takes on a similar role in South America. There are few places where it is as easy to see as at Caiman Ecological Refuge in the Pantanal.

The giant anteater detects termite mounds and anthills with its keen sense of smell and tears them open with its strong claws. What we call an anteater’s nose is actually an elongated jaw with a small, black, moist nose, like a dog’s nose. Giant anteaters have a two-foot-long tongue and huge salivary glands that produce copious amounts of sticky saliva when they feed. They may eat as much as 30 000 ants in a single day!

The cattle fences offer little, if no, obstruction to the movement of these wondrous creatures.

In the mythology and folklore of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin and the Pantanal, the Giant Anteater is depicted as a trickster to the jaguar as well as a humorous figure due to its long snout. In one old wives tale, an anteater challenged a jaguar to a breath holding contest underwater, which the jaguar accepted. After the two removed their pelts and submerged, the anteater jumped out of the water and stole the jaguar’s pelt, leaving the jaguar with the anteater’s pelt.

Interestingly it is well known that Anteaters are able to kill jaguars using the so called ‘hug-of-death’.To protect themselves, anteaters can rear up on their hind legs, roaring and slashing at an attacker with those powerful front legs and sharp claws. The sharp claws simply slice through the body of the jaguar.

Not the greatest image, due to the poor light, but it does indeed capture of almost mythical qualities of walking side-by-side one of these animals.

During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the giant anteater was one of many native fauna taken to Europe for display. At first, Europeans believed that all anteaters were female and mated with their noses.

Giant anteaters use their hairy, bushy tails to curl over them like a blanket when the weather is cool.

Living in the Pantanal the Anteaters need to be good swimmers. They use the freestyle stroke and their long snout as a snorkel.

It is estimated that only 5,000 Giant Anteaters are left in the wild! We felt privileged leaving Caiman Ecological Refuge having seen 6 of these endangered animals.

Yes, us Swedes love nature and wildlife. I have just been in Pantanal to photograph jaguars and interview people that are working with conservation for a book I am writing. May I ask about a link to the article?

I really wanted to go to Caiman but it was just to far away from Porto Jofre were I stayed. When I read the articles I wish I had the time after all.

Would you like for me to send you a photo? I was fortunate to see a couple in Costa Rica. I did not however, see a giant anteater. Just some smaller ones. Had no idea they were so large!

1st September 2012 at 14:28

Tammy Perger

Member

Guest

Adam,

You are so fortunate to have the ability to travel & learn so much about all our diffrent species of animals among us….you are doing what you love & I thank you for all your great posts, pictures & video footage that you capture….I hope one day I get the pleasure to meet you in person & thank you for all you do for us & the animlas.

Dear Tammy. Thank you kindly for the words and comments. I love my job, i love writing, photographing and filming. I love keeping people updated and being able to use my creativity to share my experiences. I am so happy to hear that you enjoy the posts. Be sure to keep watching for some epic leopard posts to come!

Great update Adam, I did the very same when I travelled to the Pantanal for just over a week in ’09. Wonderful, unique animals to watch, walk with and photograph, we saw a good few of them including a mother with a baby on her back!

Associates & Awards

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Purchase a photograph

Our best photographs are available for purchase in digital format from the Londolozi Live Fine Art Store, via credit card. Purchasable photos are tagged with the Fine Art Store icon:

Once purchased, you will be able to download the full resolution, unwatermarked image (around 10Mb) from your profile page at any time. There are also different license options which you can choose from when adding the image to your cart.

To add any purchasable image to your cart, press the Purchase/Add to cart buttons next to an image, from anywhere across Londolozi Live:

Badges

Badges are awarded for achieving various things and come with a bunch of points in tow. Here's an example badge:

We've had the pleasure of hosting you here at Londolozi and together we've experienced the magic of the wild and now you're part of the family. You've let us know about your past visits while editing your Profile.

Londolozi Guest

Awarded for visiting Londolozi.

1000

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for earning the Londolozi Guest badge

Each badge has a basic version, such as the Londolozi Guest badge above, and then a specialist version:

Londolozi Lifer

Awarded for visiting Londolozi three times.

2000

prowess earned

for earning the Londolozi Lifer badge

To see all the badges on offer and find out how to grab them, visit the Badge Showcase or click on any badge you happen to find out there in the wild.

Senior Digital Ranger

Digital Tracker

Master Tracker

Guest

We've had the pleasure of hosting you here at Londolozi and together we've experienced the magic of the wild and now you're part of the family. You've let us know about your past visits while editing your Profile.

You've earned the badge:

Londolozi Guest

Awarded for visiting Londolozi.

1000

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You're a specialist in this field and have earned the badge:

Londolozi Lifer

Leopard

On a trip to Londolozi you've been lucky enough to spot a leopard of Londolozi. You've encountered the leopard's profile card on the Blog and pressed the 'Spotted this Leopard?' button to record your sighting.

Lion Fanatic

Photographer

You've got an eye for the wilderness and have had your photographic journal from your time at Londolozi published on the Blog for others to enjoy. You found out how to submit your story by emailing us.

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700

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You're a specialist in this field and have earned the badge:

Master Photographer

Storyteller

You've got the gift of the storyteller and have had a tale of your time at Londolozi published on the Blog for others to marvel at around the camp fire. You found out how to submit your story by emailing us.

Art Specialist

Good Work Foundation

You recongise the rare privilege it is to be able to experience the untamed beauty of the natural world, and have found an opportunity to give back through The Good Work Foundation, for the sake of others, your children and the wild. You've let us know about your donations while editing your Profile.

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Curator

You've curated your own Favorites gallery by ♡ing at least 15 photographs which you absolutely love from around Londolozi Live. If your Favorites gallery has caught the eye of the Fine Art site Editor and is featured, you've also earned the esteemed Featured Curator badge.

Londolozi Live

Membership Overview

Londolozi Live

Membership overview

We invite you to sign up for a Londolozi Live account and join our growing digital family united by our respect for nature and love of the wild. Membership is free and grants access to the Londolozi community, numerous innovative services and benefits across our digital ecosystem:

Quick sign in/sign up

Tired of new passwords? Link your social media account of choice for instant, secure access to Londolozi Live.

Who are you?

Tell the community something about yourself and tweak your Londolozi profile. More of a secretive animal? Keep your profile private.

Track your activity

Earn badges for your profile as you interact with Londolozi and the community as you comment, share and explore our online ecosystem. All your activity with Londolozi is now connected.

Increase your ranking

Earn prowess and rank up as you interact with Londolozi Live and earn a spot on the monthly points leaderboard.

Discuss stories

Chat with other Londolozi Live Explorers and with your favourite Contributors from the Londolozi team about their photos and stories from the wild.

Curate your own galleryNEW

Add your favorite photographs from around Londolozi Live to your very own Favorites gallery, using the ♡ button, for others to enjoy.

Purchase full res photosNEW

Buy your favorite photos in full resolution, easily and securely, for download at any time from your Profile Page.

Home of leopards

Tell us which of the Leopards of Londolozi you've encountered during your visit! Their cards will move to your profile page collection.

Rent gear

Need a camera for your stay? Book it online and hassle free. Travel to Londolozi light and easy.

sightings by Members

The Leopards of Londolozi

Since 1979 Londolozi has had a love affair with leopards. Over the last four decades, this dynasty has been chronicled by the many guides and trackers, past and present, who have worked at Londolozi.

You can visit the Mashaba 4:3 Female's dedicated profile page to access a rich trove of information about this leopard, including family tree, unique markings, territory maps, timelines and a host of stunning images and videos.